The Aina Mahal, a palace built by Rao Lakhpatji in the 18th century and now a museum, is one of Bhuj’s major tourist destinations. The city is a commercial centre for wheat, barley, cattle, cotton, and salt produced in the hinterland. Handicrafts include the manufacture of cotton cloth and silver items. Bhuj is the site of the country’s first large-scale experiment with solar pond technology (a means of collecting solar energy using brine ponds), and it has several colleges. It is the junction of several state highways and the terminus of a railroad, and it has an airport. Bhuj was devastated by a massive earthquake in 2001, which badly damaged the Aina Mahal and the nearby Prag Mahal; both structures subsequently were restored. Pop. (2001) town, 98,528; urban agglom., 136,429; (2011) city, 143,286; urban agglom., 188,236.

country that occupies the greater part of South Asia. It is a constitutional republic consisting of 29 states, each with a substantial degree of control over its own affairs; 6 less fully empowered union territories; and the Delhi national capital territory, which includes New Delhi, India’s...

saline mudflats, west-central India and southern Pakistan. The Great Rann covers an area of about 7,000 square miles (18,000 square km) and lies almost entirely within Gujarāt state, India, along the border with Pakistan. The Little Rann of Kachchh extends northeast from the Gulf of Kachchh...